Fish condition to people to survive just like wildlife does and we are generally too dumb to catch on. Have you ever walked up to a goose and got really close to it while strolling along normally. or maybe tried chasing it off and got really close to it! On the flip side, Have you ever tried stalking that same goose kind of like a predator or a hunter? I bet you didnt get nearly as close to it this time before it took off.
Ok its late so that anology may not have gone over so well, but my point is this. Fed fish typically learn about humans pretty quickly. They interact closely with them much more than unfed fish do. Humans come tromping along up to the pond or to the dock and the fish know you are there before you get there. Then you are watching them and they are watching you.
When an unfed fish knows you are there it will either leave or close its mouth as well- unless it is very hungry and has no choice. When a fish or animal is very hungry it simply has no choice but to eat. Come on deer hunters, hungry deer are much easier to hunt.
You want to catch fed fish consistently you need to not let them know you are there. In a smaller body of water its alot harder to stay concealed for a long amount of time, especially when a couple fish do get caught.
The larger the body of water, the easier it is to catch fed fish and I believe its a combination of all the theories discussed in this thread. I think RC if you get creative with this one you will be able to figure out a system that gives you the best of both worlds for your body of water.
In situations such as yours, I have also found it very beneficial to have several feed stations to spread the fish back out around the pond.
There is alot more going on here than what I have time to write about tonight, very interesting topic that I have spent much time studying and experimenting with on lots of lakes and ponds!
